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If you loved
Books like Straight Man
A hilarious, big-hearted romp through the petty grievances of academia and the messy realities of a midlife crisis. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Straight Man.
- autumnal
- chaotic
- warmly cynical
- absurdist
- 01
Empire Falls
Richard Russo · 2001
A warm, wry, and ultimately heartbreaking immersion into the fading pulse of a blue-collar New England town.
- 02
Nobody's Fool
Richard Russo · 1995
A warm, snow-dusted portrait of a down-on-its-luck town and the stubborn, deeply flawed people who refuse to leave it.
- 03
The sportswriter
Richard Ford · 1985
A somber, introspective journey through the messy aftermath of profound personal loss and the chaotic search for new meaning.
- 04
Changing Places
David Lodge · 1975
A wry, transatlantic comedy of errors that skewers the absurdities of university life and midlife restlessness.
- 05
Rabbit, Run
(UPDIKE, John). KREITSEK, Howard B.
A restless, lyrical plunge into the suffocating heart of mid-century American domesticity and the desperate urge to escape it.
- 06
Sabbath's Theater
Philip Roth
A torrential, darkly hilarious howl of grief and obscenity from a man refusing to go quietly into old age.
- 07
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
David Foster Wallace · 2001
A dizzying, darkly hilarious plunge into the neurotic, self-justifying minds of profoundly alienated people.
- 08
Stoner
John Williams · 1965
A devastatingly beautiful portrait of an unremarkable life that will quietly break your heart and put it back together.
- 09
Dear Committee Members
Julie Schumacher
A hilarious, biting, and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of a man drowning in academic bureaucracy, told entirely through unhinged letters of recommendation.
- 10
The Fourth Hand
John Irving
A tragicomic exploration of loss, media spectacle, and the bizarre ways we become whole again.
- 11
Something Happened
Joseph Heller
A slow-burn exploration of the quiet, creeping despair hidden beneath a perfectly average American life.
- 12
Zuckerman unbound
Philip Roth
An anxious, introspective exploration of the heavy costs of creation and the inescapable weight of family grief.
